Sanctuary | News
CLIMATE
WATCH
HIMALAYA WARMS UP
A disturbing trend of increased liquid precipitation
in the Himalaya has been observed suggests a
study published in Current Science. Though the
total precipitation i.e. rainfall and snowfall showed
an increase, there was a distinct rise in rainfall in the
North-western Himalayan (NWH) zones. The study
conducted by scientists H. S. Negi, Neha Kanda,
M. S. Shekhar and A. Ganju of Snow and Avalanche
Study Establishment, Chandigarh, warns that increase
in rainfall would cause increased melting of ice, which
in turn would lead to a rise in the frequency of
avalanches, landslides and fl ooding. The study took
into consideration various climatic parameters such
as temperature and precipitation over NWH and its
zones – Lower Himalaya (LH), Greater Himalaya (GH)
and Karakoram Himalaya (KH) during the intervals of
1991-2015, 1991-2000 and 2001-2015.
“Interestingly, snowfall amount is found to
have decreased whereas rainfall amount has
increased in 25 years. Furthermore, precipitation
at all zones except LH follows decreasing trends in
last 15 years (2001–2015) which signals signifi cant
climatic change especially after year 2000,” reads a
line in the journal. This study is crucial as Himalaya’s
glaciers feed important rivers such as the Ganges,
Brahmaputra and Indus on which millions of human
lives depend.
The question that planners should now ask is
whether all the cost-benefi t ratios of high dams in
the Himalaya need to be reworked before investing
more money into projects that could fail to deliver
on extravagant promises.KING PENGUINS IN JEOPARDY?
A recent study on climate change impacts suggest
that there are tough times ahead for King
Penguins living in sub-Antarctic islands. Apart
from the specifi c temperatures that the penguins
need to breed and raise chicks, they also require
an abundant food source close enough to feed
their off spring. The Antarctic Polar Front, which
harboured large concentrations of fi sh, is receding
further south as a result of melting ice, forcing
penguins to swim longer distances to reach food
supplies. This seriously impacts chicks and if the
hunting trips take longer, the chicks might starveLIAM QUINN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONSand populations could crash. The
threat of global warming is made
worse by unsustainable industrial
fi shing practices, making life
even more diffi cult for penguins.
According to Céline Le Bohec,
leader of the programme 137 of
the French Polar Institut Paul-Emile
Victor: "There are still some islands
further south where King Penguins
may retreat, but the competition
for breeding sites and for food will
be harsh, especially with the other
penguin species like the Chinstrap,
Gentoo or Adélie penguins.”PLASTIC CONTINUES
TO AIL INDIA
The announced ban on plastic
bags over half of all Indian states
and Union Territories seems to
have had little impact, with waste
continuing to choke waterways,
landfi lls, village commons and
city streets. Maharashtra and
Jammu and Kashmir were the
latest in a line-up of 17 states
and Union Territories to impose a
blanket ban on the use of plastic
bags, while Goa, Kerala, Gujarat,
West Bengal and Odisha have
instituted ineff ective ‘partial’ bans.
Mohammed Yasin, a vegetable
vendor in Jammu and Kashmir,
told NDTV that the responsibility
for this situation lies equally with
customers who demand the plastic
bags. If the demand falls, in his view,
the production would fall too. India
has over 30,000 plastic processing
units across the country with over
four million people employed in
these units. Clearly, manufacturers
of raw materials and processing
units should be taxed, and punative
fi nes imposed for non-compliance.SOLAR AND WIND
POWER CAN MEET
80% OF U.S.A.’S
ENERGY NEEDS
Scientists at the University of
California, the California Institute
of Technology and the Carnegie
Institution for Science, in a
study published in the Energy &
Environmental Science journal, have
found that 80 per cent of United
States’ electricity demands can be
reliably met with solar and wind
power. The research team explored
the natural variability of the two
renewable energy sources and
concluded that meeting 100 per cent
of the energy needs would mean
having to store enough electricity,
to meet several weeks’ demands
to safely compensate the variable
factors. On analysing weather data
from 1980 to 2015 to understand
the essential geophysical barriers
presented by solar and wind energy,
they found that about four-fi fths
of the country’s electricity demands
could be comfortably met. But this
would entail setting up country-wide
transmission and storage facilities.
Undoubtedly the costs would be
high, but with scale, the price of
batteries continues to fall. Almost
40 per cent of the United States’
carbon emissions can be attributed
to fossil fuel energy production, a
major contributor to climate change.
"The fact that we could get 80 per
cent of our power from wind and
solar alone is really encouraging. Five
years ago, many people doubted that
these resources could account for
more than 20 or 30 per cent,” said
Steven Davis, Associate Professor,
UCI and co-author of the study.A study reveals that the King Penguin's prey is moving further South in the sub-Antarctic
region due to rising temperatures, which could spell disaster for their population.